The Masticator was started by two Minneapolis-area visionaries as a zine in the summer of 2004. Issue two was never realized, and half of its founding force moved to Brooklyn. Three years later, the electronic version of The Masticator has far eclipsed its single print-bound predecessor. Today, The Masticator posts art reviews, random urban snapshots, gentle political mockery, and other short articles on subjects like cars, fashion, and books.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

The Platypus

The first platypus to make it to England from Australia in 1799 was received by naturalists as a hoax. The species has characteristics of birds, reptiles, and mammals. And did you know that males have poisonous spurs on their hind legs? A sting can kill a dog or cat. And then there's the radar-like bill that senses both pheromones and electrical fields.

Scientists have finally decoded the genome for the 150 million year-old platypus, revealing an even stranger beast. But first, a poem by Ogden Nash:

I like the duck-billed platypusBecause it is anomalous.I like the way it raises its familyPartly birdly, partly mammaly.I like its independent attitude.Let no one call it a duck-billed platitude.

While the platypus has only two-thirds of the molecular letters of DNA that human beings have, we both have about the same number -- 18,500 -- of genes. The genome was like nothing scientists had seen before, according to a Washington Post article earlier this month.

With mammals, there are two chromosomes, X and Y, which are paired differently to make males and females. The platypus has 10 sex chromosomes. Platypus milk, which is secreted from abdominal patches instead of nipples, changes in nutritional complexity according to five or more genes that turn on in sequence (similar to kangaroos). This is of apparent interest to the dairy industry.

The genome tells us that the venom males use evolved differently than snake venom, but started from molecule and ended up very similar.

Scientists are still baffled by the platypus's ability to detect electrical fields -- they could not locate any genetic clues to this strange ability.

The short video below from National Geographic shows the odd beast in action, including some platypus battle scenes.